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User blog:Blahbumian/Flagging: ZT's new weapon of war
Starting last night and still ongoing as of this afternoon, 3 years worth of Must-Sees as well as many Crowd Pleasers and regular movies have disappeared from ZT. The reason? Nobody knows. At first, based on the intensity of the situation and how rapidly it unfolded, it was widely speculated to be a major hacking incident - if so, the first one in 6 years. As the theory went, a hacker must have hacked ZT and is now deleting large numbers of Must-Sees. But, after nearly 24 hours of movie disappearances from ZT, there is no evidence of a traditional ZT hacking event. Accounts haven't been hijacked, usernames haven't been changed and there are no glitches messing with the website's functions. The evidence, although limited at this stage, does not point to a mass hacking event. Instead, it points to a mass flagging. ZT has had problems with flagging before. For years, movies have been mysteriously disappearing, only to be brought back by the Mods a few days later (a well-known example is MegaGamer1's very first Must-See back in 2014). All it takes is 3 flags for one movie to be taken down for a review from the Mods, to make sure the content is acceptable. Anybody can make 3 accounts and flag a movie to take it down - it's really as simple as that. If the movie is deemed acceptable by the Mods, it will be returned to the site a few days later. The problem with the flagging system is that your movie doesn't need to break the Code of Conduct to be formally taken down - all it needs it 3 flags. So, if you make 3 accounts, use each of them to flag a movie, that movie's gone, at least for a few days. In the past, we've had flagging wars where users flag other people's movies, not because they're breaking the rules, but to get back at each other for unwanted behaviours. We can take relief in that ZT is very safe from hacking - it hasn't been hacked in 6 years and getting hacked isn't a daily concern on ZT anymore, like it once used to be. But we have a new, easier and much more insidious way of starting a war; that innocent-looking red flag button under every movie. If the ongoing event is a mass flagging, it is easily the largest in ZT's history, and it has been much more damaging than most hacking events (when Value432 hacked ZT in May 2012, he didn't remove 3 years worth of Must-Sees). Of course, the Mods probably will return the Must-Sees soon enough and everything will get back to normal - but that's not such an easy solution. Unlike hacking, the flag button is an integral function of the Zimmer Twins website and an easy way to take down movies. If this is event has been a flagging, which is very likely, something like this could easily happen again. -Blah :) Category:Blog posts